Wayne Rooney's elbow is the final straw, it's time for Football to follow the NBA

The only thing worse than Wayne Rooney's recent swinging elbow at James McCarthy during Manchester United's 4-0 victory against Wigan is the FA's reaction to it. Rooney has escaped any punishment for the incident

This is not the first time that the English FA have refused to punish one of it's superstar players hiding behind the referee's match report,which is the most ludicrous method of deciding discipline ever: I mean if the referee didn't do anything about it during the game, what exactly is going to be different in the match report?

Too often now players in the Premiership, especially reputable players like Rooney, are getting away with detestable actions on the field.

It may be a long time since we saw a scene like this;

However referees are constantly taunted and questioned when carrying out their responsibilities on the field. The lack of respect shown to them is at an inhumane level. Irrelevant of the quality of job that they are doing, they remain human beings. Sons. Fathers. Brothers.

It's incredible to think that the FA or FIFA hasn't stepped in and made changes to this point. Their respect campaign for officials hasn't made a significant difference at all. The tense situations that they are put in is a major reason as to why they are under too much pressure to carry out their responsibilities effectively.

It's time for football to follow the example of Rugby.

It's really not difficult to change the attitude of the players. The NBA in America have recently gone through what was an essentially seamless transition from a league that had a minor respect problem, in comparison to the Premiership, to a league where officials are shown respect.

How long did this take?

About 2 months.

If referees were given the license to send players off for what they deem as a lack of respect, it wouldn't be long until the level of officiating would increase. If a rugby player talks back to an official during a game they are heavily punished.

A simple transition period may result in a spike in yellow and red cards as it did with technical fouls in the NBA but the sport would be better as a result of this.

Football is in desperate need of change. It's time that the sport followed in the footsteps of the NBA and became as disciplined as Rugby.